SR3’s Dr. Holly Fearnbach and colleagues Dr. John Durban (Southall Environmental Associates, SEA) and Jessica Farrer (SR3) are extending killer whale health monitoring into the winter months. They will continue to use an unmanned multi-copter drone to non-invasively collect high-resolution aerial images of individual Southern Resident and Bigg’s transient killer whales to monitor growth and evaluate body condition. The team has already had an incredible encounter with more than 30 Bigg’s killer whales, allowing them to collect thousands of images that will be analyzed during the next few months as part of this long-term study to compare the health of killer whale populations in the Salish Sea.
Aerial image of a group of Bigg’s Transient killer whales taken in December 2019. Note the young calf (T46B1B) on the left side of the image with anomalously pale coloration. Despite this condition, this whale appears to be in robust condition. Image obtained using an unmanned hexacopter that was flown non-invasively >100ft above the whales under NMFS permit #19091.